Christmas Blues

As we are getting nearer to the end of the year, I was hoping to push my year list as close as 300 species as possible, although having missed a few rarities I doubt my final list will surpass that, it's still fun to just give it a try though. Seeing that there had been reports of a male Small Niltava plus a Chestnut-crowned Warbler at Lung Fu Shan which could add two more birds on my year list, I decided to give it a go. The afternoon before Christmas Eve was pretty quiet up there, only a few other birders were around, although everyone didn't have much luck with neither species. After everyone had gone, I took a stroll nearby, there weren't too much to see, but a flock of Red-billed Blue Magpies at close range kept me entertained, I can never get bored of them.

Lung Fu Shan is also quite good for mammals, and a large flock of Wild Boars was certainly a sight to behold...with their numbers really booming, no wonder they now frequently wander into the city. Blue Whistling Thrush was spotted nearby.

At around 4:15pm, when every single birder had left, I heard the song of the Small Niltava, a series of high pitched notes gave away it's location. I searched for the source of the song and sure enough it was perched on an open branch, singing away! I managed to find an opening amongst the thick foliage, the bird gave me about a minute of excellent views before melting away back into the dense cover. I was very fortunate to have such great views of the Niltava, although the Chestnut-crowned Warbler never showed itself...

I tried again on Christmas day morning for the warbler but it was yet another no show, so I decided to head over to Shek Kong Airfield around noon to look for other birds. Unfortunately there weren't much to be discovered there, all except a female Black-naped Monarch was worthy of note. It did however gave great eye-level views though, not complaining about that! A Chinese Blackbird which perched at close range was remotely interesting, being such a skittish species I would have expect it to have flown away straight after it saw me!

I visited Tai Po Kau on boxing day after my failed attempt for the Chestnut-crowned Warbler. It wasn't particularly exciting to start off with, the common species such as Silver-eared Mesias brought a splash of colours. Most of the usuals were present, but none of them were particularly photogenic, except for a curious White-bellied Epornis. One of my best find of the morning was a White-spectacled Warbler, it was a brief view, but it gave me just enough time to grab a record shot, it's broken eye-ring can be clearly seen. I also saw a Chestnut-flanked White-eye, but it was way too quick for my camera.

Only a few days left in 2017, I am at 304 (I recounted my records), wouldn't mind adding a few more birds...